So, for example, an ordinary person just shouldn't need a section like the first in this book, devoted to setting up an account. (If you do, maybe someone else should be managing your company's social media presence. Possibly the person who turns on your computer for you in the morning.) O'Reilly and Milstein follow up this section with a chapter devoted to rewrites of the most unnecessary sections of Twitter's online documentation, describing the kind of things you'd otherwise learn by simply using Twitter for a week.

Much of the rest of the book presents the kind of "advice" effectively lampooned by Naomi Dunford in her blog post, "Twitterati Douchebags and the Stoning Of The Infidel". Numbers don't matter. Share information. Send great @replies. Plus five sections about retweeting (somehow, I didn't realize how difficult that was while I was doing it).

Still, there are enough bright points here to earn a three-star review. Chapter two ("Listen In") provides links to a number of interesting Twitter-related web services, most of which I hadn't heard of. And Chapter Six ("Twitter for Business: Special Considerations and Ideas") is definitely the book's strong point: It's a collection of tips for businesses or organizations hoping to use Twitter for marketing or outreach, most of which aren't painfully self-evident to anyone who's used Twitter for a few weeks. The authors provide useful advice for coordinating multiple Twitter accounts, tracking clickthroughs with the URL shorteners that support this feature, and ensuring the company's account is findable.

Overall, not a worthwhile read, but there's not much better out there, so far as I can tell. ( )

A good, compact, but not too shallow introduction to Twitter. Twitter and everything that surrounds it change so quickly that some things are already outdated, 6 months after publication date. But that's not really a problem: the book just deserves a reprint. ( )

Better advice than I had expected, although of course it is outdated almost as soon as it was printed. Something here for almost everyone, from beginner to power user. Advanced power user, maybe not. Would love to see the accompanying website updated regularly with new suggestions. ( )

This is a great little book. I'm new to Twitter so I found everything in the book really interesting and helpful. I'm no longer hesitant to tweet. After all, my messages will be seen at most for about five minutes.

The book is well organized, comprehensive, pretty (love the colors and the birds) and fun (the writing allows for newbies to make mistakes). This is a book I'm hanging on to. It'll be a good reference because it has other links I'll probably find useful the more familiar I become with Twitter. ( )

Wikipedia in English (1)

This practical guide will teach you everything you need to know to quickly become a Twitter power user, including strategies and tactics for using Twitter's 140-character messages as a serious--and effective--way to boost your business. Co-written by Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein, widely followed and highly respected Twitterers, the practical information in The Twitter Book is presented in a fun, full-color format that's packed with helpful examples and clear explanations.

Twitter Tips

1. Even if you use Twitter primarily to post information that’s not directly about your company, you can—and should—use it to sometimes link back to your own site or blog. Many companies find that Twitter can become a top referrer to their sites, so avail yourself of that benefit—just do it in a smart way. The key is to frame the link in a way that’s interesting to your Twitter followers. So instead of saying, “New Blog Post: Mundane Headline, http://yourblog.com,” try something like the examples here, each of which links back to the Bigelow Tea blog.

2. If you’re looking to get the most out of Twitter, don’t fall into the trap of posting an RSS feed of headlines from your site or blog. Although there are services that will automate such a connection for you, they simply help you create an impersonal account that duplicates the main feature of an RSS reader. Why bother?

Four Important Things to Search For

If you want really useful search results from Twitter, you have to spend some time playing with the advanced search options to figure out the relevant terms and topics people are talking about. Here are four topics to get you started: 1. Your name. It may be known as a “vanity search,” but keeping an eye on what people say about you is a smart idea. (Don’t forget that putting quotes around your name can help refine the results. Search for “Jane Doe” instead of Jane Doe.) 2. Your Twitter account name. Don’t miss messages to or about you. 3. Your company, brand or product. Peek into the minds of customers, competitors, journalists and other key constituents. If you’re a local business, use the advanced search “Location” option to narrow down results. Also, if your company name is common, use the minus sign to weed out inappropriate results. For instance, if you work for Kaiser Permanente, search for Kaiser -Chiefs to make sure messages about the band don’t overwhelm your results. (Here, a targeted search yields some relevant results.) 4. Your competitors. Get market intel and ideas.

(retrieved from Amazon Mon, 30 Sep 2013 13:23:24 -0400)

▾Library descriptions

"This practical guide will teach you everything you need to know to quickly become a Twitter power user, including strategies and tactics for using Twitter's 140-character messages as a serious and effective way to boost your business." -- Publishers description.… (more)